Many examples of companies buying the matching .com when they use a .net, .org, or ccTLD.
Frank Schilling said something during his keynote at NamesCon that really rings true.
When companies get a domain name other than .com, they say to themselves “we really ought to get the .com domain too”.
In the year 2014, that’s certainly true. You can argue this will change in the future, but when people tell me today the domain extension doesn’t matter, it’s usually because they’re trying to sell something that’s not .com.
As I went through this week’s list I found example after example of companies that use a ccTLD, .org, .net, etc. who bought the matching .com. Ditto on the end user lists I posted earlier this week.
Here are some of the end user sales at Afternic last week. You may view previous end user sales lists here.
Catterton.com $25,000 – Private equity firm Catterton Management Company, L.L.C.
FutureNavigator.com $3,388 – Future Navigator, which uses FutureNavigator.dk. I just read their website and don’t really have a clue what they do.
CowlitzPUD.com $2,800 – Cowlitz County PUD in Washington state, which uses the matching .org.
Pieris.com $4,750 – Pieris AG, a pharma company. They use the hyphenated domain Pieris-AG.com
RowNewYork.com $1,888 – New York City rowing group ROW New York, which uses the matching .org.
EmpireAviation.com $3,900 – Empire Aviation Group in Dubai, which uses Empire.aero.
ChoiceKitchen.com $3,100 – Choice Foodservices, Inc. in San Ramon, California.
RealHealthProducts.com $1,500 – Real Health Products, a Glendale, California company that owns the undesirable RealHealth-Products.com domain name.
AdrenalineCycles.com $1,888 – Adrenaline Cycles in Corbin, Kentucky upgraded from the .net.
Charter.us $3,000 – Charter Environmental, Inc. in Boston.
EpicMotors.com $1,400 – Epic Motorsports in St. George, Utah.
ForthWorthCPA.com $2,640 – Hatter & Associates, LLP, an accounting firm in Ft. Worth.
FreeEmbroideryDesigns.com $11,000 – The registrant in Oklahoma is officially “Free Embroidery Designs”. I’m not sure if that’s a company name.
AbdulBasit Makrani says
There must be some spelling issue because FreeEmroideryDesigns.com seems to be available for registration.
Andrew Allemann says
I left out a b. Thanks.
BDB it WWW says
What Frank meant to say is that no one in his right mind wants anything other than the .com. Some will need to settle for .crap, but they know it when they do it.
The thought of having my customers snicker when they hear a .crapolla name makes me willing to write a blank check to arrange the .com.
No, I do not think this will EVER change. Why should it? If the Fortune 500 are all .com, this will be an endless loop cycle.
Louise says
Catterton.com – Some companies pay big, instead of go the UDRP route, don’t you think?
Andrew Allemann says
Because Catterton is a common name.
Kassey says
Good reporting, Andrew. This is the trend. .com is becoming a global extension. It’s no longer used for US organizations engaged in commercial activities only. The Canadian government’s failed attempt to grab Quebec.com using UDRP is another good example.
Ryan says
Well .com can only help your chances of success, it is like getting a 100/100 score, it is not possible to get anything better, you can rest easy at you are at the top of the pyramid so to speak. I don’t know how the gtld’s tie into all of this, but right now they seem more of a defensive play.